


FIVE BY FIVE

by mabariandhalla



Category: Gears of War (Video Games)
Genre: Alpha/Alpha, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Everyone has a potty mouth, GFY, M/M, No mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-03-10 19:26:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3300836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mabariandhalla/pseuds/mabariandhalla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being an alpha who is interested in other alphas is difficult enough, but did he really need to fall in love with an emotionally constipated asshole?</p><p>AKA</p><p>"Anya goes into heat, Marcus doesn't bat an eye. Baird goes into rut, Marcus loses his mind."</p><p>BACK ON HIATUS CUZ I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I'M GOING WITH THIS. MIGHT BE REMADE INTO A SMUTTY ONE SHOT.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first thing I've written in seven years, online rp not counting, and I'm not using a beta. As such, all mistakes are mine and if it doesn't flow quite right that's because I am extremely out of practice.
> 
> Also, if anyone IS willing to beta, let me know! :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edited on 2/13/17 for grammar, spelling, and to make it suck less :P

Baird had long ago given up on getting a positive… well, anything from Marcus motherfucking Fenix. Never mind how many times he had pulled a solution out of his ass to save everyone’s ass, never mind how many times he had pulled Marcus’s bacon out of the fire, still barely even a nod. Granted, he himself had been a total dick to the other alpha at the beginning of their acquaintance but no one is a happy camper coming off the tail end of an unresolved rut, being forced onto suppressants, and having a reminder of their ‘failures’ rubbed in their face. Though in the years between then and now things had gotten somewhat better between them. Hell, ‘non-confrontational’ could sometimes be used to describe their interactions. Even so, Fenix was so stoic one would think he’d had his knot surgically removed. Even now, months after the Lambent cure had been used and people had started to relax into their not-as-dangerous lives, Marcus had yet to so much as crack a smile.

 _‘Then again, I didn’t watch my best friend and father die in front of me within the space of a day,’_ Baird mused, leaning on a railing and looking out over the ocean. It had been decided to stay on Azure and make it their base of operations for the time being. It was beautiful, warm, still had standing infrastructure that wasn’t going to crumble underneath someone’s feet and there was some even some land that hadn’t been built on that people were now cultivating for food and livestock.

But is was also making most of the omegas and alphas emit contented pheromones and had cause some of the non-fighting alphas and omegas to go into heat and rut.

That was why he was out here in the clean breeze where the only things he could smell were saltwater and sun-bleached sand. The pheromones Anya had been throwing off the past few days were really starting to aggravate him. He doubted that anyone else, even Anya herself, was aware of it yet. Baird had always had a sharp sense of smell. The issue was that he even though did not find omegas attractive the pheromones still amped him up and made him fidgety. If he wasn’t careful he would be thrown into rut, and then probably coerced into breeding with one of those aforementioned omegas.

_‘For the good of humanity,’_ he mocked silently. Several people, mostly betas, had been saying that it was the omegas’ and alphas’ duty to humanity to breed as much as possible to get their numbers back up. What those idiots didn’t understand was that they were barely able to keep their current population comfortable, never mind hundreds of new babies. They were just able to keep the current number of people in Azure feed and housed. There were no more hospitals to go to if something went wrong, either. Yet some people seemed to this the solution to everything was knocking up every female able to get pregnant, be they omega or beta or alpha. Baird snorted. Some of these idiots had never seen a pissed off pregnant alpha.

Yet at the same time those very people made Baird uneasy. A select few of those people wanted to thrown their society norms back several centuries to when alphas were dogs on leashes, omegas were chattel to be bred, and betas had the final say on everything. But those few were the ones who were the loudest and seemed to have some sway with the rest. They didn’t need a civil war after so many years of fighting the Locust and Lambent, but seeing as every alpha and omega alive today were alive because they fought and killed for their right to live, if pressed they would fight for their right to simply live as they wanted.

As it currently stood, the social norms right now were very similar to what it had been before E-Day though there were some differences depend on what ‘class’ you fit into. There were three of these main classes, but dozens upon dozens of other minor ones as well.

‘Fighting’ individuals, those whose biological drives were geared to protection and confrontation, were able to actually shut down their sexual drives altogether for lengths at a time. Or, in this case, years. Baird himself didn’t quite have that handy ability as he was more of a ‘teaching’ alpha than a fighting one. He was only able to do so after a little help from suppressants to kickstart the process. ‘Teaching’ individuals were those who were more geared towards learning and discovering and then teaching others. Baird was somewhere in-between ‘fighting’ and the discovering part of ‘teaching’. There were various other types of individuals, some present in all three sexual classes, some only present in one sexual class. The type that was most irritating right now, at least to Baird, was what most people impolitely referred to as ‘breeders’. They were the ones who were most family oriented and the most fertile, often having up to a dozen kids in their lifetime, if not more. And they were driving Baird nuts. _Anya_ was driving Baird nuts.

He sighed, then caught another whiff of Anya and groaned. It had been getting stronger all day, and by now she was no doubt well into the beginning of her heat. He half wished that Marcus would just put her, and by association Baird himself, out of their collective misery. Of course, that meant that Baird would have to stand smelling Anya all over Marcus and he wasn’t sure if he would be able to tolerate that. Maybe he could hitch a ride to the mainland with the Raven that was due to leave later that day. Anything to get away from the fact that the alpha he was head over heels for was no doubt about to have heat sex with the pretty blonde omega and live happily ever after with shit ton of kids. Baird dropped his head into his hand and groaned.

If he was going to be honest with himself, he’d been captivated by Marcus since the moment he’d met him. It had been part of the reason he’d been such an ass to the other alpha. He’d been tired and cranky, had just had half his squad die, and there was this giant alpha taking charge of what should have been Baird’s command and pinging against every one of Baird’s tender spots.

Even though he’d known not to let himself soften to the other alpha, even though he knew that the last thing he needed was to be pining after a no doubt _straight_ alpha, one only interested in omegas, he had anyway. Had let himself care and become sort-of-friends with Marcus.

And then he’d gone and fell in love with the emotionally unavailable asshole and now was up shit creek without a paddle because he was too stupid to cut his losses and run. But Anya’s heat was finally the final straw.

With a snarl he shoved himself away from the railing and stalked off towards his room. He’d gather up what supplies he needed and hitch that ride to the mainland, then make for Halvo Bay. He needed to get away from Azura, and he still had to help an old friend find another old friend.

He just hoped Paduk wouldn’t shoot first and ask questions later.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, after two years, I have updated this. I just want to say thanks to everyone who commented and gave kudos, cuz if it weren't for you guys I would have let this fic rot. So thanks!

Baird stopped dead in the middle of the hallway. He had decided to take the shortest route to his room to minimize the risk of running into anyone he knew, but it seemed like he shouldn’t have even bothered. Standing no more than a few dozen meters away were the very two people he had most wanted to avoid. From where he was standing, around the corner and just out of their line of sight, it almost looked like Anya had Marcus backed into a corner. Baird’s nose twitched at the heightened scent of her and barely kept himself from snarling in irritation.

In his current mood he had no wish to deal with either of them, and thankfully he didn't have to. He had gone over every inch of these buildings looking for any tech that was still functioning and possibly useful and as a result knew of a few other ways back to his room. He backed up on silent feet, soundlessly retracing his steps back to the previous corridor and then turned left down it. There was a flight of stairs that were 'off-limits' a few hundred feet down this particular hallway, stairs that would dump his only a few dozen feet from his room on the third floor. These stairs were badly damaged and off-limits for a reason, but Baird had scaled them before and would rather risk falling messily to his death than deal with Anya in heat. For all that he was loud he could be quiet when he wanted to be and managed to creep up the stairs to his room with no one the wiser.

Once he was safely inside with the door shut he let out a long sigh, then started taking mental inventory of what he needed to pack. For once he actually had time to gather supplies, and seeing as how he wasn't planning on coming back for a while (or at all) he would need at least his some extra clothes along with his ever present armor. Most of the pieces of tech he had scattered here and there he would probably have to dump in the room that he and the few other tech headed guys referred to as the tinker room, but he would make space for something small to take along with him to ease his boredom.

All in all he wouldn't have much to take with him, mostly just his gear and some rations. He pulled his duffel bag out from underneath his cot and dropped it on the unmade bed, rooting through it to make sure his single change of clothes was in it and clean. Surprisingly they were, and he tried to remember when exactly he had washed and folded them but drew a blank. Either way they were there and packed, which only left a few other things to add. He already had his armor on, which saved time, and it took only moments to toss some packaged rations into the duffel. That only left him to figure out which gadgets would be useful to bring along. Most of it was pretty much junk, but there were a few items that would come in handy that he added to the now heavier duffel.

There was a brisk knock at his door and Baird scooped up his bottle of suppressants and dumped them into the duffel before zipping it up and slinging it over his shoulder before snagging his rifle and slinging it over the other. He had a sharp comment ready and waiting, but when he opened the door and got smacked in the face with a wave of alpha scent it died on his tongue.

"Going somewhere?" Marcus asked rhetorically as he eyed the duffel slung over Baird's shoulder. Baird just gritted his teeth. This particular scenario was exactly what he wanted to avoid, and he had thought that he would have more time what with Anya having ambushed Marcus earlier, but apparently not.

"Yeah, I heard that someone was starting up a robot circus and needed a mechanic," he snarked. Not his best come back, but with Fenix only a few feet away staring him down he didn't think it was the worst he could have come up with. Marcus only raised an eyebrow, crossed his arms over his chest, and continued to stare. Baird could already feel the headache coming on.

"I made a promise to someone I intend to keep," the shorter alpha growled and made to brush past Fenix. For a split second Marcus held his ground and their gazes locked, and it took all Baird had not sway forward and bury his nose underneath the other alpha's jaw and just _breathe_. But it only lasted for a moment before Baird dropped his gaze and shouldered past Fenix and out into the hallway before he did something truly crazy. Like back up the black haired alpha into a wall and scent him.

"I'll see you around," the blonde muttered, and then fled down the hall.

Of course, he should have known that it wouldn't end there, because once he had said his goodbyes to the others and gotten clearance to leave and had finally managed to make his way down to the landing pad to wait for the Raven to be cleared to leave, Marcus was waiting for him with his gear on and a fully loaded duffel at his feet. Baird stopped dead. "Are you fucking _serious_?"

Marcus snickered at him. "You thought you were gonna run off without anyone coming along for the ride? Fat chance." As the bigger alpha tossed his duffel and rifle onto one of the seats of the Raven and climbed in Baird could have sworn he heard him grumble something about running before being put to stud. Right. He was definitely hearing things.

An hour later something was bugging him, more than the bulk of the other man sitting across from him. He ran through a mental checklist, thinking that maybe he had forgotten something, and pulled his duffel closer to him to double check that he had not forgotten anything. When he opened it nothing seemed to be missing. Clothes, rations, tech, all of it was there. He grabbed the bottle of suppressants off the top of his clothes, meaning to shove in into one of the outside zippered pockets so he wouldn't have to dig through the duffel for it later, and froze for a split second before gently shaking the bottle. It was empty. He had grabbed the empty bottle instead of the full one. Fuck.

He was stuck several hundred feet in the air over the ocean with no suppressants and the scent of Marcus Fenix slowly saturating the compartment. He was completely fucked.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've come to the realization that I like and use commas waaaaay too much.  
> This is a pretty small chapter, but I'm gonna try doing smaller chapters but faster updates... you know, faster than two years. XD

The remainder of the flight is miserable. Every dip and turn of the Raven sent Baird's already churning stomach into overdrive until he thought he would either puke or pass out, and the insidious sent of alpha wasn't helping his nerves at all. He was a few too fast breaths away from a panic attack and he knew it. In an effort to calm himself he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, but then soon realized his mistake as alpha scent almost overwhelmed him. He swallowed a whine and tried to breathe silently through his mouth, warily eyeing Marcus and waiting for a smart comment. Thankfully the other alpha seemed to be taking a nap and was none the wiser.

 

Baird let him head thunk back against the metal of the compartment and wondered if this was some punishment from a long forgotten god for all his ill deeds in life. Bad enough that the forbidden object of his, if not affections, then at least sexual interest was going to be within arm’s reach of him for the next few hours, but then he had gone and make the stupidest mistake he could have made. He had no idea how hadn't noticed the lightness of the empty suppressant bottle, or how he had missed the lack of rattling pills when he had thrown it into his duffel. He could only hope that he could get his hands on some when the touched down.

 

Swallowing thickly, he once again eyed Marcus. Was he truly asleep, or was he faking and waiting for the right moment to say something? There was no way Baird could hide that something was wrong, he was too stressed to even try and dissemble. Instead he watched the other man, taking advantage of the fact that Marcus was asleep  so he could trail his eyes over the other’s form, noting the raw strength of the other alpha’s form, thick biceps and thighs, large and powerful shoulders. Everything he wanted and nothing he could have. His stomach swooped, but this time it wasn’t the chopper’s fault. He could feel the warmth starting in the pit of his belly, threatening to build to greater and greater strength.

 

He sighed and closed his eyes while dropping his head back against the metal, shifting around until he was somewhat comfortable, and tried to force his mind back to the mission at hand. Only a few more hours and then he could find some suppressants and hopefully stave off his rut. With another sigh he slumped even further in his seat, hoping to at least catch some sleep before landing.

 

If he had kept his eyes open a few moments later, he would have seen Marcus’s nose flare to take in his scent as he watched him through slitted eyes.


End file.
